Method of making tire-forming strips.



1. T. LISTER. METHOD 0F MAKING TIRE-FORMING STRIPS APPLICATION FILEDMAR. 7, |913.

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a l d v u u a a n uu J. T. LISTER.

METHOD oF MAKmG TIRE FomvnNG STRIPS.

APPLICATIGN FILED MAR. 7| 1 913.

Patented July 20, 1915.

Wzeeses.

I. T. LISTER.- METHOD 0F MAKING TIRE FORMIIIIG STRIPS..

. APPLICATION IFILED MAB. 1, 1913.

1,147,252. f Patented July 2o, 1915.

` SHEETS-SHEET 3.

JGHN T. LISTER, OF

CLEVELAND, OHIO.

METHOD or MAKING 'rma-Femme sfrmrs.

strip forming material such -as rubberized thread or cords, and is ofparticular utility in forming hose and tire forming strips.

My invention inl one of its aspects consists in winding about a movablecore in different directions a plurality of groups of rubberized threadsor cords, the groups of threads being wound in such a manner as to formsuperimposed layers, each of closely associated spirally arrangedthreads or cords, and theA threads or cords of each layer being',arranged at a decided angle with'respect to the threads or cords of theadjacent. layer. v

Inutilizing my inventionfor forming tire strips for which the inventionhas' particular' utility, the movable co're 'at and ad] acent the'points where the groups vof threads are wound thereon in opposite"directionsis substantially of the shape and size offa tire forming coreupon whichy the strips may subsequently be wound, vand in carrying outmy process of forming these tire forming.

strips, thel strips after being initially formed into annular shape are'cut or divided on the v inner side so that the said strips can bereadily applied to a tire forming .core, .and formed into commercialtires or tirecasings'.V In the drawings, I have shown one form ofapparatus which may be utilized 1n carrying out my invention in oneofits aspects, or for one of the specific uses'to which my invention maybe applied, i. e., for .the :forL

' mation of tire formin strips, or strips 45 "which may be utilized 1nthe construction of ordinary automobile tires.

In the figures of the drawing, Figure 1 1s a side elevation of one formof apparatus which maybe utilized for the purpose stated,

arts being in section, and other parts bein roken away; Fig. 2 is anenlarged sectiona Specification of Letters Patent.

- side elevation of the forward portion of the apparatus or of thatportion at which the t1re .strips are formed; the cordson the right' ofwinders being omitted for the sake of clearness. Fig. 3 is a sectionalview sub i stantlally along the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, the

parts being shown on a slightly enlarged scale. F 1g.4 1s an enlargedsectional view substantlally along the line 1---4vof Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the rear part .of th apparatus, showingparticularlyjthe motor vand gearing utilized in driving the parts of theapparatus. Fig. 6 is a sectional view substantially along the .line 6-6of Fig. 1,

looking in the direction indicated`by the arrow. Figa 7 is a sectionalview substantially along the line 7-7 looking in the direction4indicated by the arrow. Fig. 8 is a Idetail Sectional view of one ofthe compression rollers. Figs. 9 and 10-are sectional and side views,respectively, on an enlarged scale of one of the cord winders whichguide and `wind the cords onto themoving core.

. Referring now to the drawings, it will be seen that the apparatusincludes a core 10 which in this .case consists of a series of coresections10B linked together in the form of an endless chain.. Each ofthese core sections is circular in cross section, and lengthwiseconsidered is arc shaped-or in the shape of a section of an annularmember or core of 'a tire forming-,machine upon whichthe strips formedwith my apparatus are adapted to be subsequently wound in the actualmanufacture lor construction of the commercial tire s, or ofthe outerlcasings of the tires of the inner tube type.A

, Each core section 10EL is preferablycom- L posed of two half sectionsfastened together,

(see Figs. 3 and .4) and the diiferent sections are linked to etherinthe manner shown in 'i Fig. 2; wherein it-will be seen that eachsection has secured on the interior thereof, and

at'one end, a member -11 with a projecting arm carrying a vroller whichengagesin a slot 11a in a webbing at the end of the next adjacent coresection. The member 11 'also 4 has a projecting portion 11-,vwh'ichextends outwardly toward the `outer parts of thetwo adjacent sections ofthe core,so as to'assist in holding `the sections 1n ahnement, whenPatented July 2o, 1915. Application mea March 7, 1913. serialiro.752,580.

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the sections pass about the supporting structure at the forward part ofthe apparatus, where the strips are formed.

At the rear end of the apparatus, the chain ofv core sections *1 passesabout a .Jheel or pulley 12, and at the forward part of the apparatus,the chain of core sections passes between an outer series ofro lers 13,and an inner series of rollers 14,- he axes of the two series of rollersbeing arranged in arcs of concentric circles having diameters such thatas the-core sections pass between the rollers 13 and 14, they are in theform of a substantially half circle corre sponding in size to that ofhalf of a tire orining core upon which the strips may be formed intotires. As the core sections pass between the rollers 13, and 14, theends of the core sections abut against each other, so as to form asubstantially solid semiannular core, and when they are so arranged, theprojecting members 11b within the core sections come into play to assistin holdingthe core sections against relative lateral movement.

In the drawings I have shown an appara* tus for forming the tire stripsof two layers or from two oppositely wound groups of cords which extenddown onto the core from two annular winders to be referred to, in

.coaxial conical envelops which surround the core at the strip formingend of the apparatus rnd are arranged one in advance of the other so asto result in the two layers. The two groups of threads may be designated15 and 1G, the former forming the inner layer and the latter the outerlayer. The arrangement is perhaps most clearly disclosed in Fig. 2.

For an understanding of the manner in which I propose to vfeed ythegroups of cords to the rotating winders, and the manner in which thecords are rubberized, and thence dried before passing to the windersreference is had'particularly to Fig. 1, By referring to this figure, itwill be seen that the groups of threads are fed to the winders from twoseries of spools 17 and 18, which are mounted on pins or studsprojecting radially outward from two hollow concen tric rotary cylinders19 and 20, the inner one of which projects rearwardly beyond the outercylinder' and the inner cylinder constituting the support for the spoolswhich supply the cords 15 which form the inner layer, and the outercylinder constituting the support for the spools which supply the cords16 for the outer layer. These twoI cylinders, together with the spoolsare designed to be simultaneously rotated in opposite directions. At theforward end of the apparatus are the two rotary annular winders 21 and22, which are supported from the two cylinders so as to rotatetherewith, and hence will rotate in porting member or housing oppositedirections. It may be noted at this point that the upper leg of thechain 10 of core sections 10 vpasses through the two cylinders andthrough the winders 21 and Q2, which are located at the point where thecore sections arrange themselves in the form of a half circle, aspreviously described. It will be' observed that the rear end of theouter cylinder 20 is rotatably supported by an annular support 23 whichis supported from beneath by a bracket 23a and contains lan annulargroove which relieves a radially projecting flange extending outwardlyfrom a driving gear 2lwhich is secured to the cylinder 20. In a likemanner, the inner cylinder is supported by an annular sup- 25 which willreceive the flange projecting from the driving gear 26, a detail of theconstruction not being shown, as the construction is the same as that atthe rear end of cylinder 20.

, By reference to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the forward end of theouter cylinder is supported by an annular supporting member or'housingQ7, having a groove which receives a radially projecting portion of aflange secured to the outer cylinder. yIhe forward end of the innercylinder is supported from the outer cylinder through the medium of ballbearings 28.

The cords are rubberized or coated with rubber cement after they leavethe spools by being passed through rubber cement conv taining chambersQ9 and. 30, the former of which is secured to the inner drum 19 justforward of the spools 17 and the latter of which is secured to the drum20 just forward of the spools 18. The threads after passing throughopenings in the walls of the cement chambers '29 and 30, passthroughnotches or openings at the periphery of annular guides 31 and 32, onejust forward of the cement chamber 9.9 and the other just forward of thecement chamber 30, and thence the cords extend forwardly in the annularspace between the inner and outer cylinders. over suitable guide rollers33 and 34, the threads extendingrin the form of two substantiallycylindrical envelops. At the forward end of the cylinders, the cordspass outwardly from the annular space referred to, the inner group ofcords passing through openings in a radial flange secured to the end ofthe inner cylinder, and the outer group of threads passing throughopenings in a radial flange at the end of the outer cylinder. Thence thecords pass diagonally downward and inward through openings in the rotaryannular winders 21 and '22 and thence are wound in opposite directionsspirally onto the core. 4,

In passingforwardly from the guide rollers 33 and 3a t""th'e"'forwardends of the f cylinders, the rubberized threads are dried,-a

stituting a. drying'- chamber. The rubberized cords are dried by aforced circulation of.

air drawn through the4 annular `space between the two drums, by means ofa suction pipe 35 connected to a drum 36 which is supported in fixedposition about f'he two cylinders, .between the rotary winders 21 and'22 at the forward ends of the cylinders, and the cement baths orchambers through which the cords pass.

' The air which is drawn through the pipe 35 from the drum 36.is drawnthrough the annular space between the two concentric cylinders. Theinner cylinder has suitable perforations 38 which admit the air to theannular space between the cylinders, and the outer cylinder has openings37 through which the air is drawn from said annular space into thesurrounding drum, and thence out through the pi e 35.

Beneath the gui' es 31 and 32, just in advance of the rubber bath aretwo` drip troughs 39 and 40, which catch the excess rubber. cement whichis retained on the guides 31 and 32,-as the cords pass over the same.These drip troughs may have suit-v able outlet. openings or outletpipes, as shown.

I shall now describe the manner in which l .the core sections-and theother parts of the apparatus are driven to produce' the Itire strips.A'driving motor 45 has secured to its shaft a friction disk 46 which byfrictional engagement drives a friction wheell 47. To vary the speed ofthe apparatus, the

wheel 46 is shifted' along the face off the driven wheel 47 by asuitable' lever 48. The

shaft on which the driven friction wheelv 47 is secured, is providedwith a pinion 49 which engages a gear 50, and the shaft u on which thegear 50 is secured is provi ed with a pinion 51 which engages a gear 60secured to a' long forwardly projecting shaft 61 from which all partsofthe ap aratus are driven. vThis shaft v61 is provlded at its forwardend with a bevel gear 62, which meshes with a' bevel gear' 63, which aswill be observed from Figs. 1, 2 and 7 is secured to a transversely'arranged shaft 64 provided with arotating cutter 65, (see particularlyFigs. 2 and 7), which cutter cuts the tube formed by the two layers ofcords along the line of its inner periphery, into Aan open stripsuitable for winding upon atire form-y ing core, this .cutter beingarranged'at the l bottom of the half circular substantially ri gidarrangement of core sections, and at the point where the core sectionschange from the semi-circular formation into the-linear formation, asthey travel rearwardlyalong the lower leg of the endless chain.

The endless chain 10 of core sections lcan be driven in any suitablemanner. I prefer, however, to utilize the inner-series of rollers 14for-driving purposes. Consequently, I

cause the said rollers to drive thevchain of core sections. Theserollers 14. are driven through the medium of a sprocket chain 66 whichengages suitable sprocket Wheels on the shaft 64 to which the cutter 65is secured, and on the shafts or spindles to which the several rollers14 are secured,

The inner drum is driven through gear-l ing designated as a whole by thereference character 67 which gearing includes al gear on the long shaft61 and the gear 26 secured to the rear end of the drum. In a similarmanner, the outer drum is rotated .by gearing designated as a Whole bythereference character 68, this gearing including a gear' on the shaft61, and the gear at the rear end`of the outer drum. In order that thetwo drums may be driven in opposite directions simultaneously, the setof'A gears 68 includes in its train an idler gear l(the de,

tails of which need not be here shown) which causes the gear 24 to bedriven in the reverse direction with respect to the direction 4in whichthe gear 26 isdriven. Thusit will be seen that with the above describedmechanism, the chain of core sections is driven through the drums andthrough the vwinders; the core sections arrange them selves in the form;of a half circle having considerable rigidity justl beyond the winders;thecylinders carrying the'spools which are' rotated at the same angularspeed but in reverse direction, as are likewise the winders which areconnected to the cylinders; the cords are fed from the-spools, passthrough the rubber cement baths,-are dried, and thence fabric formed inthis mannerfat each revolution of the winders will depend upon thepassed downwardly.v through openings in the annular winders.

number ofl cords in each group, the rate of `movement of the core beingtherefore dependent upon the number of threads in each vgroup. I preferto utilize at least forty .cords ineach group, although this numbercould be increased or decreased as foundl desirable.

After the cords are laid onto the core in the manner above described inthe two superimposed strongly adhering layers, the cords of the latterare compressed bythe rollers 13 and 14,-the rollers`14 driving thecoresections, and also compressing the c prds, .and the rollers 1 3 beingdriven. by thef'traveling coresections and serving only ltd' conjtpressamil,

the cords. I prefer to use also in addition to the inner and outer setsof rollers 13 and 14, side rollers 70 in order that, as Will be apparentfrom Fig. 6, all portions of the cords on the core will be compressed.

Preferably, as shown in Fig. 8, each of the rollers 13 and 70 iscomposed of a plurality of separately mounted sections which results inarmuch better compressing action at all points than vvould be the caseif the roller Were composed of a single rotating section, for with theconstruction shown all parts of the roller have a true rolling action onthe fabric surrounding the core, Whereas otherwise there Wouldbe acertain degree of slippage between the fabric and certain por' tions ofthe roller, inasmuch as the rollers are concave, and the side portionsare of greater diameter than the middle portions. As the tube thusformed on the core of the two superimposed layerspasses from between therollers, the tube is cut by the cutter 65, leaving the tube open at itsinner periphery as shown in Fig. 2. This open tube can then be Woundupon a suitable reel y until it is desired to apply the same to the coreof a tire making machine.

It will be observed thatl have made suitable provision for adjusting thetension of the chain of core sections by mounting the Wheel 12 in apivotally supported bracket 71, which can be rocked on its pivot by asuitable adjusting mechanism 72, the actuation of the latter serving toymove the axis of the Wheel 12 toward or away from the forward end ofthe apparatus.

One ofthe great advantages of -a tire strip formed with my improvedmethod lies in the fact that when it -is applied to the core of a tireforming machine, it at once' adjusts itself to the shape of the core,and when placed on the core there is no material stretching of thefabric, as is the case When thetire is formed of regular Woven strips,and With-the strips formed with my method the outer parts are not placedunder` initial tension or stress, as is the case When the ordinarystrips are stretched in applying them about the periphery of the core ofa tire making machine. i

The apparatus herein disclosed is claimed in a copending applicationiled by me on the 7th day of May', 1914, Serial No. 836,911, entitledApparatus for forming rubberized fabric tubes or strips.

The product of the apparatus and of the machine herein disclosed isclaimed in a copending application iled b v me on the 6th day of May,1914, Serial No. 836,602, entitled Tire forming material.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim is:

1. The method ofmaking a tire forming strip adapted to be applied to thecore of curved tube,

a tire forming machine, which comprises 65 Winding tire forming materialabout a por tion of a core having substantially the cross sectional and'circumferential curvature of the tire forming core so as to form alongitudinally curved tube, slitting the tube, and conducting the stripthus formed from a part of the strip forming core distant from` theWinding point.

2. The method of making a tire forming strip adapted to be applied tothe core of a tire forming machine, forming the strip from material inthe form of strands on a part of a core curved in cross sectionandlongitudinally, and conducting the strip from anotherfpart of thecore.

3. The method of making atire-forming vstrip adapted to be applied tothe core of a tire-forming machine, which comprises Winding tire-formingmaterial on a portion of a core curved transversely andcircumferentially so as to form a longitudinally slitting the tube, andremoving the strip thus formed from the core \at= a distance from theWinding point.

1. rlhe method of making a tire-forming strip which comprises Windingtire-forming material about a portion of a traveling stripforming corecurved incross section and longitudinally so as toform a longitudinallycurved tube, inner periphery, and removing from the core at apredetermineddistance from-the Winding point the strip thus formed.

5. rl`he method of making a tire-forming "strip which comprisescontinuously Winding material spirally about a portion of a continuouslytraveling strip-forming core curved in cross section and longitudinallyso as to form a longitudinally curved tube, slitting the tube on itsinner periphery, and continuously removing from the core at a certainpoint the strip thus formed.

6, The method of making a tire-forming strip which comprises Windingstrip-forming material in opposite directions about a portion of atraveling c'ore curved in cross section and longitudinally so as to forma longitudinally curved tube having a plurality of layers, and slittingthe tube so that the strip thus formed may be continuously fed off thecore at a certain point thereof.

7. The method of makinga tire-forming strip which comprises Windingstrip-.forming material about a portion of a traveling core curved incross section and longitudinally so as to form a longitudinally curvedtube, compressing the material on said curved portion of the core.slittingv thetube on its inner periphery, and removing the stripA thusformed from the traveling core.

' 8. The' method of making a tire-forming strip which comprises Windingrubberized cords spirally in .opposite directions vabout whichcomprises' slitting the tube on its a portion of a traveling core curvedin cross In testimony whereof, I hereunto aix my section andlongitudinally so as to form a signature in the presence of twoWitnesses.

longitudinally curved' tube having a plu- JOHN T. LISTER. rality oflayers, slitting the tube on its inner Witnesses:

5 periphery, and removing from the traveling N. C. HUBARD, core thestrip thus formed. A. F. KWIs.

